Innovation

The Blue Water Project is a global commitment to protect fresh water, the most precious natural resource to the world. The project began in 2007, and is still running after 12 years. RBC helps protect fresh water through a multitude of ways, including donations and grants, sponsorships and partnership, thought leadership, and employee involvement. The project has raised around $50 million dollars to support worldwide organizations that work towards protecting water. This project has also supported different conferences, economic reports and events around the world to help build awareness surrounding the importance and value of fresh water. Alongside that, RBC encourages its employees to get involved in helping protect local water and the environment.

The Blue Water Project entails an annual “Blue Water Day/Blue Water Makeover” in which every RBC employee takes the day off to help the environment by picking up garbage and litter, planting trees, cleaning up parks, and more. All of these activities help keep water sources clean and safe to drink. This worldwide initiative involves over 80,000 RBC employees playing an active role in clean water safety. Not only is this project dedicated to the protection of freshwater, but also promotes sustainable practices for the environment on a global scale. During her interview, Karishma Alam spoke openly and fondly of Blue Water Day, “We all got together and helped in some way, we’ve cleaned up trash from Centre Island, planted trees in different parks and have done so much. It is something that I look forward to each year.” Newsletters are sent out to each of the employees in anticipation of the day alongside videos that are promoted after the day is done. RBC’s overall water commitments are stated in their environmental blueprint. This includes reducing the use of landscape irrigation in areas that are deemed to be water stressed, reducing the usage of water in RBC properties by incorporating water efficient technologies, and even implementing environmentally responsible cleaning products within its properties for janitorial and cleaning services to help protect the water quality.

RBC Blue Water Project

Inspiration

Environmental sustainability is something that RBC is committed to as they believe that it is an investment in the future of our world. Two of the largest threats to human health and economic development worldwide is water shortages and lack of access to clean and fresh water. There are many factors behind this; however, two major factors are climate change and growing populations. Climate change impacts water availability in unpredictable ways, leaving some regions with not enough water and others with too much water. With growing populations, it is difficult to recognize how to fairly allocate water. We only have access to less than 1% of all the fresh-water in the world. RBC recognizes these threats and wanted to counteract it the best way they could, by helping communities to prosper and protecting fresh-water supplies. When this project began, it was only a few RBC employees that worked together and RBC was one of the only organizations at the time that was willing to take a step towards protecting fresh water. Being such a large corporation and having such a large reach worldwide, they used their resources in a way that promoted the protection of freshwater and the access to it. Leaders at RBC acknowledged that the preservation and management of freshwater is something that many communities are dependent on for reasons such as tourism, fishing and other industries. Some cities are unable to prosper without clean water.

One of the goals that RBC had with this project was to promote the creation of capacity within the charitable water sector. With RBC’s reputation of integrity, it has lead precedent for other large organizations to follow when it comes to protecting the environment. RBC recognizes that water quality and quantity issues present both risks and opportunities for business across sectors and wants to work towards understanding how to take those risks and opportunities and turn them into solutions for the water crises. RBC is committed to promote awareness on this issue and offer thought leadership for these issues through employee engagement and supporting organizations that work to aid water issues. Ms. Alam displayed a very strong sense of pride in regards to her workplace, “Knowing that I work at a place that is socially conscious makes me feel proud and influences my personal decisions on how to be more sustainable. It’s little changes in the office that change my everyday decisions such as not providing disposable cups. It forced me to bring a reusable water bottle to work, and now I bring that water bottle everywhere!” Leaders at RBC recognize that creating a work environment that fosters the idea of sustainability and being more socially responsible will promote and enable employees to be happier at their workplace and be proud of the workplace they are currently positioned.

Overall impact

The Blue Water Project is a 12-year long project that is wide ranging with different categories as to how RBC helps through donations and grants, sponsorships and partnerships, thought leadership and employee involvement. Over the past 12 years, there has been a commitment of over $50 million dollars to support organizations that tackle the issue of fresh water and its protection in growing towns and cities. RBC has pledged over $36 million to over 800 charitable organizations worldwide and has provided almost 1400 grants as well. In 2011-12, RBC commissioned a third party firm to evaluate its impact on the environment. The firm found that through RBC funded programs: 3 million households in North America were positively affected; around 2.5 million kiloliters of water were conserved; over 810,000 people attended service and training opportunities on fresh water crises; and over 80,000 people have logged over 400,000 volunteer hours with programs that were community based and promoted watershed protection. Not only that, but more than 80 organizations within North America were able to leverage around 4.7 million dollars in additional funding through RBC Blue Water Project grants.

The overall impact was on the quality and quantity of fresh water, with hundreds of organizations met with the funds needed to further mitigate the threat, hundreds of thousands of hours logged for volunteering and communities worldwide being positively affected. Through this 12-year long initiative, RBC has become a leader in social responsibility and has set precedent for other companies to follow.

Business benefit

In current society, it is not enough for corporations to just be financially stable and provide economic benefits. Citizens demand more from corporations and organizations. In order to prosper, corporations now also need to be socially responsible and look further than being profit driven. RBC is a great example of how to balance profits, sustainability practices and being socially responsible.

RBC fosters a work environment that promotes sustainability and social conscience, which is appealing to individuals in the workforce. Ms. Alam stated in her interview that, “In my workplace, there are many sustainable initiatives that push our employees to be more socially responsible such as having no disposable utensils, having efficient water dispensers, being encouraged to bring your own reusable water bottle, and providing motivation through posters and quotes throughout the office to be constantly reminded to be more conscious.” RBC’s total amount of CSR investments grew from $4.3 billion in 2015 to $5.5 billion in 2017. In the interview, Ms Alam gave insights as to how being socially responsible was a great way to recruit new employees and as well as new clients. RBC employees grew from 77,664 in 2015 to 80,504 in 2017 with a 94% percentage of RBC employees that are proud to be working there.

RBC has also received multiple awards and recognition for its corporate social responsibility, including Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index Member, Corporate Knights’ Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World and Corporate Knights’ Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada in 2017 alone. Alongside those awards, RBC received 10 different awards in 2017 in regards to the customer service they provide for consumers. It is clear that RBC has created a workplace that encourages their employees to be their best, which further translates into excellent client service and more profit generation for RBC.

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Social and environmental benefit

RBC uses various ways to mitigate water crises and help the environment through the Blue Water Project. This project is wide ranging through funding and aiding multiple different initiatives that target the provision of clean and safe drinking water to those who need it, to educating employees and the public. RBC provides hands on help with their 80,000 employees worldwide who are given the time to help clean up cities, plant new trees, and pick up trash, among other sustainable actions.

RBC also takes seriously the initiative of being “Thought Leaders.” In 2008, RBC noticed the attitudes that Canadians had towards water and how it was not as positive as expected. Canadians had been taking water for granted, under the impression that a fresh water supply would always be available. RBC decided to start polling Canadians in 2008 about how they felt about water. This poll would show whether major world events surrounding water were affecting how Canadians thought about water and how they used it. By making this data public and reporting on it, RBC encourages Canadians to contribute to healthy conversations about water and its value as well as its vulnerability.

RBC has also pledged around 9 million dollars to universities in support of water programs throughout. For 2016 and 2017, the focus for the Blue Water Project was supporting initiatives in towns, cities, and urbanized areas that center on water preservation. RBC wants to support sustainable communities and focuses on improving control and management systems for urban storms or rain water, efficient and innovative use of water, protection and restoration of urban waterways and improved water quality in urban areas. Through RBC's multitude of initiatives, The Blue Water project aids and helps to mitigate water crises where it is located and encourages discussions on the value and vulnerability of water within society.

Interview

Karishma Alam, Product Manager